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Leadership Advice From Kaiser Permanente CIO Dick Daniels

A well-rounded and highly regarded technology executive, Daniels shares his tips for success in the CIO role.

Dick Daniels

IT professionals with decades of experience are sometimes presumed to be fossils, whose skills and experience can’t possibly add value in today’s fast-moving, digitally transforming organizations. It’s no wonder more than a few tech workers in this cohort cover their gray and truncate their resumes to de-emphasize those early years.

Richard (Dick) Daniels, by contrast, proudly shares his earliest tech credentials—a punch card and a computer programming certificate from 1971—when addressing a group of rising technology executives at Deloitte University. Then again, Daniels is far from the average IT staffer. As executive vice president and CIO for Kaiser Permanente, Daniels is responsible for the ongoing leadership of Kaiser Permanente’s IT vision, strategy, and execution. He reports directly to Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and CEO, and is a member of the national executive team. He previously held senior leadership positions with J.P. Morgan and Capital One and also served in the U.S. Air Force.

Daniels’ passion for the business of technology is evident as he speaks—his calm, congenial delivery style notwithstanding. “We work in a tremendous profession,” he says, “and I take it very seriously. On a bad day, I like to stop by a hospital. When I see doctors using electronic medical records (EMRs) and nurses working with patients, it reminds me why I do what I do, and what it contributes.”

Daniels’ IT organization provides the underlying technology that “stitches together” systems that span the health care continuum, from primary, specialty, and home care settings to labs, pharmacies, imaging, and research centers. The stakes are high at Kaiser Permanente, which is among the largest integrated health systems in the U.S., with 39 hospitals, 660 medical buildings, more than 200,000 employees (plus 22,000 physicians), and nearly 12 million members. Last year alone, Kaiser Permanente admitted more than 433,000 patients, performed 225,000 inpatient surgeries, and delivered nearly 100,000 babies.

But at least for one afternoon, Daniels set aside his obligations long enough to share lessons he’s learned on his journey to becoming a CIO, trusted advisor, and respected leader. In his own words, these lessons include:

‘If you’re leading and no one is following, you’re just another person taking a walk.’

—Dick Daniels, executive vice president and CIO, Kaiser Permanente

Follow the money. Learn the business you are in well. Understand its value proposition and metrics, and how the business makes money. Know your competitors. Move out of IT and go run another part of the business. It will change and improve your perspective on IT.

Impact the business. Understand the organization’s goals and objectives and offer solutions that address them. A company’s growth strategy could emphasize continual growth, M&A, or increased account penetration; the way technology supports growth will vary widely depending on the strategy. Seek out individuals who work in other functions or parts of the business and ask them what they do. They’ll gladly share—and you may uncover an unmet need.

Build relationships. Relationships of all kinds help CIOs in countless ways. Resourcing an IT organization, where investment projects ebb and flow over time, is an art form. A good working relationship with the head of HR can help. And since IT budgets are constantly under threat, you’ll want a CFO who’s willing to listen to and consider the rationale behind your investment requests. Furthermore, by getting out of the office and walking around, you can quickly identify opportunities for improvement. If someone is looking at a screen but writing with a pencil or using a calculator, ask why. Building good relationships with board members is also helpful, although it’s important to be cognizant of the distinction between their responsibilities and those of company managers who serve the board on committees and in other ways.

Ask for feedback. Two good reasons to ask for feedback: 1) to actually get the feedback; 2) to know what people are thinking and how you are viewed. You can’t affect perceptions if you don’t know what they are.

Make a personal commitment. Downtime, whether scheduled or not, is still downtime. Imagine a surgeon scrubbing and preparing to operate while a patient is on the table under anesthesia. Then a system goes down, so the patient’s EMR is unavailable. Much to the distress of the doctor, the patient, and the patient’s family, the surgery must be postponed. IT, like medicine, is a 24/7 profession.

Demonstrate your credibility and influence. Leaders want to know you can create a vision, write the strategy, and deliver. Good plans often push people out of their comfort zones. You’ll have to win them over. If you’re leading and no one is following, you’re just another person taking a walk.

Build the culture you want—and need. Set the tone. People take all their cues from you—on the small details and the big issues. If you wear red socks, other people will wear red socks. If you blame people, you will build a culture of blame. If you want a culture of integrity, then act with impeccable integrity yourself. Have a game plan for instilling the culture you want into the organization. You can’t leave it to chance.

Build a strong team. A group of strong individuals is not a team. IT is a team sport with room for both utility players and a growing number of specialists. Like elite athletes, IT professionals need to:

Stay in shape. They keep their skills relevant and sharp.

Play their positions. And trust their colleagues to play theirs. In all likelihood, the apps developer does not know more about configuring networks than the network specialist.

Value team wins over individual records. They give others a chance to develop and shine rather than chalking up yet another individual win. It strengthens the whole team.

Win or lose together. Stakeholders use just one scoreboard to assess IT’s performance. If one group is excelling but IT overall is struggling, no one looks good.

Learn to tell stories. Stories have the power to inspire and unite people around shared values and a common purpose. Practice telling three kinds of stories: your personal story and what’s important to you, the story of the group and why it’s important to the collective “us,” and the story of now—including a sense of urgency and the call to action.

*****

Every CIO’s experience is unique, but certain attributes and philosophies show up again and again in the most effective leaders—and they bear repeating. Follow the money. Know the business. Demonstrate credibility. Build strong relationships, a strong team, and a strong culture. Do these things well once, and you may land the next promotion. Do them well over the course of several decades, and you will one day look back proudly on a body of work that has truly added value. And you will have plenty of stories to share with a rising generation of technology leaders.

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